The present invention relates to embedded systems, and more particularly, to an embedded system with authentication, and to an associated authentication method.
Typically, an embedded system vendor is encouraged to reduce a size of a boot code stored in a system read only memory (ROM) within an embedded system since reducing the size of the boot code may decrease the required storage volume of the system ROM and further save related costs of the embedded system, such as material and manufacturing costs thereof. Thus, the embedded system vendor can launch a product at a budget price by saving the related costs mentioned above, and therefore increase its market share.
In practice, it is suggested to install a non-volatile memory storing a program code for providing the embedded system with more functions than that of the boot code. However, in a worst situation, a hacker may hack the embedded system by replacing the program code or the non-volatile memory. As a result, a trade-off between the security of the embedded system and the functions provided by the program code is introduced.